During the first eight months of 2026, the movement of 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in Mexican ports showed generally positive figures compared to the same period last year. However, a slowdown was observed in August compared to the previous month.
According to statistics from the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) , the National Port System registered a total of 6,512,648 TEUs moved between January and August of this year , 3.4% more than the 6,297,882 containers handled in the same period of 2025.
This increase was mainly driven by the port of Manzanillo , which in the reference period accumulated 2,824,839 TEUs , an increase of 11.0% compared to the same period in 2025.
In this way, Manzanillo consolidated itself as the main point for container handling, operating 43.4% of the total TEUs moved nationally , while last year it operated 40.4% of the total.
Lázaro Cárdenas ranked second with 1,805,022 TEUs , which represented an increase of 4.9% compared to the January-August period of 2025.
The port of Veracruz accumulated 802,184 TEUs in the first eight months of 2026; this represented a decrease of 5.6% compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Altamira handled a total of 579,023 TEUs in the January-August 2026 cycle, an annual decrease of 5.3 percent.
These four ports accounted for 92% of the total container traffic in the country .
Ports slow down in August
An analysis by T21 Business Intelligence shows that, after reaching the highest volume of the year in July with 877,680 TEUs handled in the National Port System, August saw a contraction of 3.3% on a monthly basis, with a total of 848,641 TEUs .
Unlike what happened in 2025, when the cycle with the highest container movement was August, in 2026 the highest level was achieved last July.
The total figures for ports in container handling were influenced by the pace reached by Manzanillo , which was precisely last July, when it had its highest record of the year, while in August it contracted by 4.1 percent .
The port of Lázaro Cárdenas followed the same route , concentrating 221,131 TEUs in the eighth month of the year , representing a decrease of 7.8% compared to the movement of the previous July.
In contrast, Veracruz handled a total of 109,556 TEUs in August , a 4.06% increase compared to July. Meanwhile, the port of Altamira, with 80,701 containers , also registered a 4.6% increase compared to July.
The featured image in this article was generated using artificial intelligence.
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